during the first presidential period, 2005-2009, ahmadinejad's top adviser met with william perry, the former u.s. defense secretary, and two u.s. congressmen in a round table meeting organized by -- [inaudible] in ruin yang capital. currently obama's top adviser on terrorism and proliferation issues and the iranian ambassador at the iaea also participated in the talks. right after the iranian presidential election in 2009, ahmadinejad send a message to barack obama via the former head of iaea that he wanted, ahmadinejad wanted direct talks with the united states and is ready to cooperate and help the in afghanistan and elsewhere. this was the message. in october 2009 the highest-level talks ever held between american and iranians took place between u.s. undersecretary and iran's top nuclear negotiator. president barack obama also made some unprecedented diplomatic gestures toward iran. raising hopes that animosities that have plagued u.s./iran relations for the past three decades might be overcome, and rapprochement achieved. president obama's call for engagement without precondition